Emails To Schools Round 2

I know schools are almost out but I am still sending them all an email. Why not, they can either give us time before school lets out in June or work us in next year. We have to try something; I mean come on really? Do these schools want to do what Salem, Oregon did and wait until their students are killed before they act, when they could have done something and maybe save a life. I get that they will not know if they saved a life or even several lives but that is the point. Better to save a life or two or three and never know it than do nothing and have students die when they had the means to potentially prevent a death or two or three by letting us come in and say what we can and hope it works.

When you think about it, letting us come and talk with their students will have the side effect of saving the parents, community, and other students the heart wrenching pain of having to deal with a trauma that truly never ever goes away. It will save parents from dealing with a potentially uncaring legal system that may or may not decide to seek the justice that is due for those deaths. Trust me, when I say that every parent that has buried a child because of an impaired driver wants that justice and are discouraged and disappointed in the DA’s and politicians in their regions who do nothing or worse do everything they can to brush the whole thing under a rug somewhere. It is sad that the school district can do something but they do nothing until it happens in their school when they themselves could have helped prevent a death.

This time I am sending an email to both the school Principles and Super Intendents in the local area. I will share who responds and who does not.

Amity
Dayton
Forest Grove
Gaston
McMinnvile
Newberg
Sheridan
Wilhemina
Yamhill-Carlton

This is the email we are sending; it is basically the same as last time, I just made a few minor changes.

To Whom It May Concern

My name is Laura Fugere and my husband’s name is Doug. Our family and I are longtime residents of Yamhill County. We have been a volunteer for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for several years now and am writing to you to ask if you would be willing to allow my husband, myself, and another representative from MADD to come speak at your school to share some facts and stories pertaining to impaired driving. The goal is to reach the younger generations and encourage them to make smart choices and understand that their choices, right or wrong, could have lasting consequences.

Here is the short version of my story…
Shanny graduated from Yamhill-Carlton High School in June 2013 and left for Navy boot camp the following July.

On July 8, 2015 my 20-year-old daughter, IT3 Shantel Fugere came home on leave. My 16-year-old son and I picked her up from the airport at 9 am and by 5 pm she and her friend were dead. Shanny and her friend, Jake were killed by an unlicensed, 17-year-old DUII driver (high on cannabis) while on their way back to my house. The impaired driver served 4 years of his 6.3-year sentence.

Our goal is to save more families from the trauma we went through while reminding your students that they have good choices they can make to protect themselves and their families from that kind of trauma.

I am a school bus driver and I have always told my students “I can’t force you make the right choice, but if you make the choice then you own it and take the rewards or consequences that come with that choice.” I have always been a firm believer that there are no bad kids, just bad choices. It is what we learn and how we deal with the outcomes of those choices that matter.

My hope is that they take away from this an understanding that their choices can make a difference. They can perhaps save another person from Shanny and Jake’s fate as well save themselves from a lifetime of regret and anguish.

If you are willing to let us talk to your students then please contact me at 503-852-5550 or email me at booksbinger@gmail.com. We will need about 45 minutes to an hour for our presentation. We are asking you to be proactive by letting us visit before something happens instead of post-actively and inviting us after someone dies.

Sincerely
Doug and Laura Fugere

Here is to hoping they all respond in the positive.

Be safe everyone.

We Are Still Watching You

Kevin Milanez-Gomez and Dianna Muniz,

I know you know we have all been watching to see if you would change for the better after you took the lives of Shanny and Jake. But based on your Facebook pages it has become clear that you have not and I have to ask you and I hope that you will be willing to answer these questions, not just for those of us watching you but for your daughter and yourselves as well.

Is your life style really what you want for your little girl?

Is it the legacy you really want for your future generations?

Are drugs really what you want in your life? Are they really the answer?

Are they really worth risking your life for?

Are they really worth the risk of landing everyone in court again when history repeats itself?

Were they worth the deaths of Shanny and Jake?

Kevin, after your eventual release from prison, no that’s wrong, it’s more like Doug and I had hoped that while you were in prison you would find your way through the self-destruction to a better path for your future and your family.

Dianna, we had hoped the same for you as well but it seems that all you cared about is the drugs and the party. What of your family and your legacy?

To you both, yes, we were and still are angry and disappointed for what you have taken from us and Jakes family, but we had hope that this defining moment for all of us would have changed your path for a better direction, but from you Facebook pages we see that it has not, so this is us telling you that we are still watching and we will never stop. But in addition, we want you to know that everything we have done for the past 2 years and what we will do in the future will hopefully prevent someone else from having to die, while having the additional side effect of also fighting for your lives as well. I want you to know that fighting for you was not in our master plan but after hearing from several people it has come to my attention that as I fight to save more people from what you have done to us, we are inadvertently fighting for you as well.

Day 2 of the DUII Conference

Another early day with information overload and to be honest, I am good with that, we are finding direction and refining our goals with everything we learn. For instance, we found out that Oregon does have a mobile testing lab. We also learned that each city or county has their own methodology for handling DUII crashes and stops. We met the DA for Beaverton and the way they do things makes a lot more sense than waiting 4 hours after a crash to get the blood draws needed in a DUII crash. I felt a little sad because I honestly wished the Beaverton DA had been in charge of Yamhill County when Shanny died, her killer would still be in prison.

There was a speaker who, spent 17 years in prison for killing someone in a DUII crash and he promised his victims he would do and be better. We met him on the first day of the conference and he gave me hope that maybe the person’s involved in Shanny’s death could change and start fighting the good fight. Doug and I were both impressed by this speaker as he spoke from the heart about his experience and how it changed him. What I noticed the last 2 days though is that has impacted my thoughts, was every time I looked his way and l saw his I eyes I noticed the sadness in them. He is a brave and strong man to walk the path he has chosen and I thank him for walking it.

There was another speaker there to discuss the effects of legalized marijuana on public safety and to be honest, he scared me as much as the DEA Officer did with his presentations. He explained the differences between marijuana way, way back before any of us were born and THC now. THC in it is most refined form could potentially kill the user, hell, there is an idiot on you tube coaxing people to use the super strong THC and I have to tell you the video I saw and along with the lack of any regulations has me terrified for my family and friends who chose the use marijuana. This speaker really got to Doug when he said he basically said drug addiction stems from not being able to cope with trauma.

The other speaker of the day, discussed how to use social media to help promote the message that drugs are not good thing that being legalized makes them out to be. Honestly, yes, I do think addictive drugs are bad and should all be incinerated, it would certainly make the world a much better place.

At the end of the day before starting the long drive for home we got to talk with the attorney for the Oregon DOJ who tried to help us when we were dealing with all of the nasty crap the Yamhill DA’s office was putting us through. The DA from Beaverton that I mentioned earlier, I genuinely wish was the DA of Yamhill County. We also talked with another person from ODOT that works in our area.

We were surprised to learn the Yamhill County received an award for getting more DUII drivers off the road and we are interest in talking with them soon. Overall, we feel like we had a very instructive and supportive experience over this last 2 day. We made new friends and touched base with others we met last year and has bolstered the hope in my heart for a better future. We have learned so much from attending this conference for the last 2 years and we hope to go again next year.

First Day Of DUII Conference

Good Evening

Today was a long day of note taking and learning new things, emotional outbursts as well as research on goals and potentially creating news ones in the future (time will tell on that thought process).

The to morning speakers were both great and Doug and I were impressed with them. Doug spoke with one from Extrac-Ed LLC and I spoke with the retired DEA officer, who was kind enough to share his power point with me.

I also got to speak with someone from ODOT who is willing to help me in trying to get victim impact presentations into the drivers training programs for Commercial Drivers, which is currently my main goal. I feel like I had a few positives today to go with being triggered today. In one of the break away sessions they were showing some videos of TV ads they are putting out and I know they will be impactful but for me they brought back the day I was told that Shanny’s wasn’t coming home. I asked my friend and mentor from MADD to get Doug, it hurt so much remembering that moment. Doug let me work through it and listened when I talked then we took a walk before the banquet. Doug also had a moment when he was listening to a person telling his story but he hid it from me until we were on our way back to the hotel.

I also heard some information that has me planning on updating the email I created for asking high schools to ley of visit and talk with their students. I will share it with you when I finish that.

Now we are back at the hotel ready to pass out from out long day of ups and a couple of downs. I have one more post I have been brewing on that I will probably start writing after the conference. For now, good night.

This Is A Good Example Of Why Victim Impact Panels Should Be Mandatory For CDL Drivers

I am a school bus driver, I started in 2001 and when I first became a driver, I was told I would always be held to hire standard now that I had a CDL and I have always tried to live up to that standard, so you can imagine just how angry I am about the article.

We want to congratulate Nicholas County School system for their decision to fire Casey Dodrill for choosing endangering his students when he chose to drink 6 beers and still get behind the wheel of his school bus. But I must ask, with his initial breathalyzer test popping at 0.118 why was it not caught at the bus lot? Where was the Branch Manager and the Dispatcher? How could this have been missed by his fellow bus drivers? Turns out another driver did know he was drunk and didn’t report it.

Then there is that school employee, Logan Bailey, what was he thinking? Would he put his own child in a vehicle with someone who was drunk? I hope that charges have been brought against him as well, for child endangerment.

The Teacher’s Aide that called the police deserves a huge raise for being the only one to do the right thing when they called police.

Original Article
WOWK 13 News 

Time Just Got Away From Me

That time for this post is so accurate it’s crazy. The last couple of weeks has been pretty darn crazy so I need to apologize for not updating sooner. With that I guess we better get down to business.

I finally got the book review I had been working for weeks done. I don’t think it was one of my better reviews but it is done and I need to start sharing it on social media, which I am doing now. I like being able to multi task with my computer.

We have been working on preparations for Shanny’s Fun Run/Walk for weeks and we have the route done and are working on collecting swag. I have emailed our local Safeway and they are going to not only contribute but some of them may even come to participate or volunteer and that is so great. I finished filling out the form asking Dutch Bros for swag, I am hoping they will contribute, Shanny loved Dutch Bros. I still have a few more places to approach to ask for swag, if you have any thoughts about businesses will to contribute swag let me know. I also just finished taking our PDF registration form for the run and converting it to a google for so people can preregister and that is up and running.
Shanny’s Fun Run/Walk https://www.facebook.com/ShannysFunRun
Preregistration link https://forms.gle/gduDEqB4KGCk2BwY8

Doug and I are excited about going to the DUII Conference at the end of this month, the more we learn the more we can do to help change things for the better and maybe get more people to listen. It’s not like we are telling people that can’t go out and ruin their minds and bodies, we are asking them to stop being a threat to other people’s minds and bodies. It’s funny how when a person gets killed using a gun or rifle and the government freaks out but when people die from an impaired driver the government does nothing. How can they care for one and not the other?

Doug, I and our friend from MADD will be going to give a Victim Presentation at a truck driving school in July. We were supposed to do that a couple of weeks ago but it got canceled at the very last minute but it has been rescheduled and I thrilled to be going and doing that.

I am bummed that all those businesses I email a couple of weeks ago didn’t even bother responding, but I will try again in a few months, they may finally say yes if I keep pestering them. It is not as if they have anything to lose by letting us talk to their drivers, they probably have more to lose not letting us visit them. But hey what do I know, I am just a CDL holder who likes what she does and thinks that the reputation and conduct of the driver is a reflection of the company they work for.

I think that covers where we are to date had more thing but decided to starting about that write after I post this post.

Be Safe

Kudos to Mammoth Cave National Park

I just found an article about Mammoth Cave National Park Rangers doing periodic sobriety and safety checkpoints through 2023. I am hoping that they will continue to do these checks even after this year ends and that other parks will also consider doing periodic sobriety and safety checkpoints.

Thank you, Mammoth Cave National Park Rangers for protecting all of visitors to Mammoth Cave National Park.

Link To Article
National Park Begins Sobriety Check Points…Indefinitely

So, are DUII’s being ignored because lawmakers are driving intoxicated?

Doug emailed me an article from The Washington Post about an Oklahoma State Representative being arrested for public intoxication and followed it up with question I am using as the title of this blog post. It is a very good question and maybe it should be asked.

DO lawmakers ignore impaired driving because they drive impaired?

Are some lawmakers so morally challenged that they resist making laws that could protect their constituents just to protect themselves?

Oklahoma Sate Representative Dean Davis, already has an impaired driving conviction in his fairly recent past, was arrested for public intoxication and according a fellow law maker drinking a soda before the police arrested him. Ok great, he was drinking a soda outside the bar but what about inside the bar? And if he really was calling an Uber I applaud his learning his lesson, but back to the current situation the law maker finds himself in, should sobriety test have been done? Probably, just to cover the police officers backside, but then from what the article says, Representative Dean Davis was argumentative from the beginning and refusing to comply with officers request to vacate the area, seems to me the officers had the right to arrest him just for that. What does it say about the lawmaker himself when he can’t even respect the laws he swore to uphold when he took office?

Here is a link to the article.
An Okla. lawmaker told police they couldn’t arrest him. They did anyway.

Please feel free to share your thoughts

Trucking Companies And Schools

Yesterday was productive, I sent to emails to trucking companies that had emails here in Yamhill County and made a list of all the local high schools in the or near where I live. Given my anxieties and triggers some of those schools wont be easy for me to get to if Doug can’t get the time off work, but I will work it out. I tried to send the e-mail through PGE’s contact page (they have a lot of drivers) and the page said it would not send it because it considered it SPAM. I was angry when that happened but I have thought that through, there is always more then one way to skin a cat, and the message will get to them eventually because I will try again.

Doug is going to work on what he wants to say at the presentation we a doing this week so he will have my computer for part of the day today, and I am going over mine tonight or tomorrow to make any changes if needed and go over the email once more for the schools, hopefully the response will be better then the first time I tried.

List of trucking companies I sent emails to:
Laughlin Trucking
VanDyke Farms Inc.
TRASK MOUNTAIN TRANSPORT LLC
Windy Hill Ranch
WENSLEYDALE FARM LLC

First Day Of Spring Break

Wow, it is my first day of Spring break and I am up early writing and doing research. Honestly, I would have started writing last night as soon as I got off work but I was so tired and the TV seemed like a better use of my time at that moment. Don’t get me wrong, I love driving a school bus, it’s the best gig in the world but watching out for other drivers, who are only focused on where they are going (some of whom have their cell phones firmly attached to their ear) without a thought to the other drivers around them is down right exhausting. Some days it is just brutal because everywhere I look somebody is doing something unsafe on the road, and what they don’t understand is that someday they may hit my bus. Am I concerned yes and no, I am concerned for the trauma and injury it could cause my students, and try to blame me for the crash. Here is the thing they don’t know and should, most school buses have cameras now and as long as I do my job the right way (in other words “drive like a school bus driver”) I will not be at fault. This is why I drive my car like I drive my bus, except for the part where I stop for tracks.

Ok, enough of that time to get down to business. We are doing our first presentation this week and I am nervous and excited. Doug was writing out what he wants to say, I could tell because he was crying. We still do that a lot, and I bet a lot of parents out there do to and it’s okay. We grieve because we love them so much. We will be ready for it and thankfully we wont be alone, Cate will be there with us to give them the facts before we say what we have to say.

I did get a list of companies together that hire CDL drivers here in Yamhill County, yes, I know I should research the whole state (go big or go home) and I will spread out from here; I just want to be able to track what I mail and email out, and doing that one county at time seems to make some sense to me. I did add one major company to the list because about a month ago they had a vehicle land in a ditch or something (don’t quote me on the exact details, please) and the driver was impaired. I also plan to email the president of the company I work for (I tried going to the regional manager). As for the other companies I made a list of all the companies with 4 or more drivers and those are the ones I will contact, I am sure there are more in the county but they don’t seem to have an online presence so if you know of one let me know and I will contact them.

I am planning on contacting schools again but I think this time I will also get emails for Superintendents as well a Principals and email more schools. I am uncertain if I should email them now or wait for Summer and hope they will work us in to for next school year. If they don’t respond I will email them over Christmas break and Spring Break, hmmmm, maybe I will email them this week, or at least as many as I can.

I will share the list of companies after I get my proof reader to check over the email, I will also need to find stamps and do some printing to send some of the letters snail mail. I am off to write a book review and I hope you all have a great Spring Break.

Be Safe.